Humor and Laughter

“Humor,” according to Stephen Leacock, the guru on the theory of humor, “is the kindly contemplation of the incongruities of life and the artistic expression thereof.” In other words, humor is the positive description of our flaws and follies, and it is the artistic expression of the lopsidedness of life and living.

We laugh when the incongruities of life and living are emphasized and exaggerated. We also laugh when incongruities are created in our perceptions. Creating incongruities is also referred to as derailing the normal pattern of thought, and all techniques on humor and comedy depend solely on this ability. This ability to derail the normal pattern of thought is the fulcrum that essentially mobilizes fun and raises the levels of our happiness.

Consider a finely dressed man walking briskly down the street, being admired by onlookers. When, unfortunately, this man suddenly slips and falls, the crowd of onlookers can’t help but burst out in laughter. The suddenness and the surprise of the situation snap the pattern of logical thinking and the onlookers couldn’t help but laugh.

Now, consider something as simple as the following statement: I was wondering why the Frisbee was getting bigger and bigger, when all of a sudden, it hit me!

Let me repeat that again, slowly this time, and see if it makes you smile or chuckle at the vision your mind creates.

I was wondering why the Frisbee was getting bigger and bigger, when all of a sudden, it hit me!

Here is what happened: your mind was focused on the speaker wondering about the looming Frisbee when the word “hit” tripped your thoughts, as did the vision of someone suddenly being hit by the toy—one that the speaker actually saw coming—and that triggered your smile or your laughter.

This trip, this incongruity, produces amusement because our brain is programmed to follow logic, structure, and sequence. When the sequence is broken or the structure is tripped, a result like a mental knee jerk is generated in the brain. This mental knee jerk sends a signal to the abdomen, which, in response, releases air into and through our lungs, larynx, and vocal chords, producing chuckles, guffaws and laughter.

Laugher, thus, is the outcome of humor. Laughter is the physical manifestation of humor, while humor is the sense and skill of creating laughter. Learning to laugh is learning to develop a sense of humor, and mastering the skills of humor requires observing, contemplating, and artistically expressing the flaws, follies, and the lopsidedness of life. Laughter is one of the main reasons why life still remains popular even though the cost of living goes up everyday.

John F. Hennedy was right ...

“There are three things which are real:
God, human folly, and laughter.
The first two are beyond our comprehension.
So we must do what we can with the third.”